Brown Stuff

[backdoc33]

:help: I have a 55 gallon reef tank going and I am noticing some brown stuff on the back of the tank and on some of the tubing. Can anybody tell me what it might be? Is it bad? What should I do?

 

[clarkiiclo]

How old is your tank?
Most likely it is diatoms and these are normal in new tanks.

 

[joker_ca]

DIATOMS, VERY COMMON IN NEW TANKS IT'LL GO AWAY AFTER SOMETIME

 

[backdoc33]

The tank is about 6 weeks old. So, you don't think I should be worried about it?

 

[clarkiiclo]

No, that is normal. If you dont like looking at them you can gently scrub them off with a new toothbrush.
I also used a piece of poly filter in my filtration to catch free floating stuff.
They lasted about 2 weeks.

 

[shawnhardy]

Yes, diatoms they are. They will go away as your tank matures. I remember when I first started my tank and I was teh same way. Eventually something else will grow and deprive all teh diatoms of their nutrients. In my case, coralline algae started growing and now I hardly ever need to clean the galss because the coralline is keeping everything else from growing.

 

[backdoc33]

What does coralline alge look like? How long did it take to start growing?